Astragal mounting



Feb. 9, 1960 J. J. JECMEN ASTRAGAL nomme Filed Nov. 18. 1957 Vzw llllllmllll lyllllllll4 United` .States vPatent ASTRAGAL MOUNTING John J. Jecmen, Riverside, Ill.

Application November 18, 1957, Serial No. 697,199

2 Claims. (Cl. 20-69) This invention relates to freight elevator doors of the type comprising a pair of oppositely disposed panels, one of which moves upwardly and the other downwardly from a central meeting position, and more particularly to a novel means for mounting on one of said panels an astragal which provides a seal between the meeting panels.

In doors of this character, a yieldable astragal between the opposed door panels is required both for accident prevention and fire prevention. The astragals employed for this purpose are yieldable in character, so that in the event an operators hand or fingers should be caught between the approaching panels serious injury, because of the yieldability of the astragal, will not be inflicted. Furthermore, for fire prevention purposes, that is, to prevent a tire from passing the doors, such astragal provides a seal between the panels.

Before underwriters approval of such doors can be obtained, they must be subjected to rigorous tests both as to their lire resisting qualities and also their resistance to disintegration by the hose `stream test which is applied immediately after the tire test.

The primary purpose of my present invention 4is to provide and astragal mounting for attaching an astragal to one of the door panels, so as to provide a durable, permanent construction which can be economically manufactured, readily applied to the panel, and will adequately meet both the lire and hose tests of the underwriters.

Other advantages of my invention will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art -as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following descripf tion when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing on which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

Referring to the drawing,

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view of as as tragal mounting embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing more in detail, reference character 5 indicates generally a fragment of the upper panel of a freight elevator door of conventional design comprising oppositely moving upper and lower panels, which are customarily so connected that movement of either panel in either direction causes the other panel to move in the opposite direction.

In accordance with my invention the lower edge of the upper panel carries a horizontally projecting ange or ledge 6, in the present instance being part of an angle bar, the other iiange 7 of which is secured to the panel proper by rivets 8. The flange or ledge 6 is provided at spaced intervals with elongated openings 9. A retainer 11 of channel shape disposed beneath the ange 6 is securely attached thereto by a plurality of threaded bolts or studs 12 extending through the openings 9 and threaded into tapped openings in the retainer. Washers 13 are preferably placed beneath the heads of the stud bolts 12. The elongation of the openings 9 through the flange enables f Y CC expansionand contraction of the flange to occur under the inuence of extreme heat in case of a, tire without impairing-the strength or effectiveness of the construction.

The astragal which forms the seal between the door panels is designated 14 and consists of a hollow flexible tube similar to a conventional length of hose of the requisite size. This astragal is proportioned to be seated in the channel of the retainer 11, as shown, and is held against lateral or rolling movement by the depending iianges of the retainer which engage with the exterior walls of the astragal at points remote from its top.

The astragal is held in seated position in the retainer by a plurality of spaced apart self-tapping screws 15 extending through countersunk holes in the retainer and through the crown of the astragal and into a roughly U-shaped sheet metal anchor member 16 positioned within the astragal. The screws 15 cause the astragal to be clamped between the anchor member and the retainer, whereby it is firmly held in seated position in the retainer channel.

In assembling this mounting, the anchor member 16 is inserted in the tubular astragal and temporarily held in the position shown in the drawing by a core or anvil of suitable shape inserted in the astragal, the core being provided with a groove or slot to accommodate the inner ends of the screws l5 when projected through the anchor member. The screws are then inserted through previously formed holes in the retainer and driven through the crown of the astragal and through the anchor member by a screw driver or other suitable implement so that the retainer, the astragal and the anchor member are rigidly connected to form an assembly. This assembly is then attached to the flange 6 of the door panel by means of the stud bolts 12 in the manner previously explained. The astragal is in this manner firmly attached to the door panel and, by reason of the anchor member inside the tubular astragal, the connection is strong and durable so that the astragal cannot be torn from its mounting under the force of a stream from a iiremans hose, as would be likely if the engagement of the screw with the astragal itself were solely relied upon to hold the assembly together.

It should be apparent from the foregoing that my invention provides an astragal mounting in which the astragal is firmly clamped and secured to a retainer which in turn is attached to the door panel in such a manner that the attachment will not be weakened or impaired either by iire or Water pressure delivered by a iiremans hose.

While that embodiment of my invention which at present seems preferable has been shown and described, it should be manifest that the structural details may be modified to a considerable extent without departing from the essence of my invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

l. An astragal mounting for a freight elevator door having a panel, consisting of a mounting flange depending from and extending longitudinally along and projecting laterally from one edge of said panel and provided with spaced elongated and longitudinally extending openings, a channel-shaped retainer having spaced depending anges and longitudinally spaced countersunk openings, an astragal comprising a hollow flexible tube having its upper circumferential portion received in the channel of said retainer with its crown in Contact with the base of the retainer and the depending ianges of the retainer engaging the astragal at points spaced from said crown, a sheet metal anchor member of general inverted U-shaped disposed within and extending substantially throughout the length of said astragal, a plurality of spaced apart selftapping screws extending through the countersunk openings in said retainer and astragal with the heads received in said countersunk openings and with the self-tapping ends of said screws forming an opening and 'threaded into' `ReferencesCited in the le' of `this patent the base of said anchor member for securely clamping Y UNITED STATES PATENTS said astragal to said retainer, and attaching means in said elongated openings for adjustably anchoring saidretainer 2'475015 Cmker et al' July 5 1949 to the underside of said mounting flange with the `latter 5 FOREIGN PATENTS disposed over the heads of said screws. 204,949 Great Britain Oct 11 1923 2. An astragal mounting as set forth in claim'l, in 273,447 Great Britain July 7, 1927 l which said sheet metal anchor member is of angular shape 463,801 Great Britain APL 7s 1937 and engaging the interior of said astragal at spacedpointsf 524,866 Canada May S, 1956 

